My Friend Across The Hall
by ChanMon04
Summary: Set in Season 3. Monica is trying, without much success, to get over Richard. Will Chandler be there for her? Ross and Rachel are together. Chapter 3 has been added. Thanks for your nice reviews! :
1. Chapter 1

My Friend Across The Hall

Chapter 1

When she heard the familiar voices outside her apartment door, Monica Geller scrambled to hide the evidence she had been eating anything out of the ordinary. She grabbed a bottled water from the fridge and was drinking from it when Rachel Green and Phoebe Buffay entered the apartment.

"Hey, Mon," Rachel and Phoebe said.

"Hi," she said, giving them a small smile and a wave.

Rachel set her shopping bags near the couch.

"Too bad you didn't go shopping with us," Phoebe said, her voice excited. "I _loved _seeing Rachel so totally in her element. You should have seen her racing to try on as many outfits as she could before the store closed. I think she broke her own record."

Rachel gave Phoebe an exasperated look but then couldn't help but to agree with her.

"It's true," she admitted.

"Sorry I missed that," Monica said, glancing nervously around the room.

"Is something wrong?" Rachel asked, picking up on her roommate's strange vibe.

"No, nothing. Why would you think that?"

"No reason. You just seem a bit skittish."

"Like you're hiding something," Phoebe added, nodding. "Ooo," she said suddenly. "Or someone."

Rachel quickly agreed with her friend.

"Are you?" they both asked Monica.

"No," Monica snapped. "I'm not hiding anyone in here."

Phoebe and Rachel exchanged shrugs and "oh well" type of looks.

"It was worth a shot," Phoebe said.

Monica shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"Let me just put my bags in my room and then we can all go downstairs for coffee," Rachel said.

"The guys are waiting for us," Phoebe added.

"I'm going to pass," Monica said, furthering her friends' interest in what was going on.

"Why?" Rachel asked, after emerging from her bedroom.

"No reason. I just don't feel like coffee. But bring the gang back here later. I'm making lasagna."

"Okay," they said, heading for the door.

* * *

As soon as she was alone, Monica quickly lifted the window seat cover and removed the empty bag of chocolate chip cookies, the empty box of cupcakes, and various candy bar wrappers and dumped them in the trash chute. Walking back towards her apartment, she promised herself, for the fifth time in the last two weeks, that she would not use comfort food to get over her breakup with Richard Burke.

But she had no sooner entered her apartment than she was thinking about what she would bake for dessert.

"For the others," she scolded herself out loud. "Not for you, Monica!"

Chandler Bing was the first to notice that Monica wasn't with Rachel and Phoebe.

"Hey, guys," they said, making themselves comfortable on the couch after having ordered their coffees. "Monica said she's preparing dinner for us tonight."

"Yeah, baby," Joey Tribbiani said, a huge smile plastered on his handsome face.

"Is that why she isn't here?" Chandler asked.

Rachel and Phoebe exchanged glances. "We're not sure," Rachel said. "Monica was acting a bit…strange."

"What do you mean?" Ross Geller, Monica's older brother, asked.

The ladies shrugged. "I don't know really," Phoebe said. "It just seemed like she wanted us out of the apartment."

"Yeah," Rachel concurred. "That's what it felt like to me, too."

Joey nodded. "That happened to me yesterday."

"Really?" Rachel asked. "What did Mon say to you?"

"She told me to get out of the apartment so she could get dressed. What? Like I was gonna watch?"

Ross gave Joey a look of disgust.

"Not the same thing, Joe," Chandler informed his roommate.

Joey shrugged nonchalantly and then took a big bite of his pastry.

"I think we all need to cut my sister some slack," Ross said. "You know she's still hurting from her breakup with Richard. She's entitled to be acting, well, a little weird."

"Sure," Rachel said. "I'm giving her the space she needs, honey."

"I know you are," Ross said, giving Rachel a kiss. "You're a wonderful friend to her."

Rachel smiled and patted Ross' knee.

"Hey, we're all her friends," Phoebe spoke up.

"I know that," Ross said. "She's lucky to have you guys, and she knows it. I'm sure Monica will snap out of this funk she's been in any time now. You'll see."

While the others looked at each other and nodded, Chandler remained curiously quiet. A few days ago, he'd inadvertently stumbled upon the remnants of one of Monica's eating binges. He'd wanted to talk to her about it, but he had absolutely no idea what he could or should say. He wasn't exactly known among his friends for being able to give sage advice. The last thing he wanted to do was to say the wrong thing and mess his friend up even more.

But he also knew there was no way he could let Monica self-destruct. If she needed help, as inept as he may be at it, he planned to be there for his friend.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

After the gang had left and Rachel had retreated to her bedroom for the night, Monica sat at the kitchen table, sipping a cup of hot tea and reviewing the evening's events. She felt she had handled herself well during dinner and while they watched a video, so she was surprised, actually shocked, when Chandler had offered to help her wash the dishes.

"But it's one of your favorite movies," she had said.

"That's okay," he had responded with a shrug. "I can hear it and then I'll enjoy the rest of it after the kitchen is clean."

And so she had let Chandler help her clean up after dinner. She couldn't help but to note how well they worked together. He had made his usual wise-cracking remarks, and surprisingly, that had given her a certain measure of comfort. It was nice to know not everything had changed.

When the dishes had been dried and put away, she'd told him to go into the living room and join the others. He'd started to leave and then stopped. He'd forced her to look at him and told her he'd needed to say something to her. She'd held her breath as she searched his clear blue eyes, afraid he somehow knew about her secret eating binges. For some reason she couldn't quite understand, she was worried that he would find out more than anyone else, even Rachel, her roommate.

"I know you're going through a rough time," he'd begun, and his softly spoken words had made her stiffen even more as she'd waited for the rest of his sentence. "So, if you need someone to talk to, I'll listen. You know I'm not good at giving advice, but I'll listen if you just need to vent."

She'd smiled and nodded, grateful for his offer. "Thank you," she'd said sincerely. "I appreciate that and I may take you up on it. Someday."

Chandler had returned her smile and nod and had given her upper arm a gentle squeeze before he'd found a seat in the living room and had tried to lose himself in the movie.

Monica had remained distant from the rest of them for the remainder of the night, although she'd served the chocolate cream pie she had baked that afternoon.

Now, as she took another sip of her tea, the leftover pie in the refrigerator called out to her. She had been so good while the others had been there. She hadn't tasted so much as a crumb while she was serving it, but now, it was all she could think about.

She told herself to go to bed and forget about the pie, but her willpower failed her and she found herself with a fork, ready to dig into the delicious and tempting dessert. After eating three big bites, she threw down her fork in disgust. What was she doing? The pants she had on were already snug. She'd forced herself to workout more the past two weeks than she had in the last six months, just to try to atone for all the overeating she had been doing.

She looked at the pie, which was considerable less than it had been, and was about to get rid of it when she thought about Chandler. Maybe she did need to talk. She certainly couldn't go on like this. She would take the remaining dessert to Joey, which would give her a chance to talk to Chandler. She hoped.

A few minutes later, Chandler answered the soft knock on the door and was surprised to see Monica standing there, holding a forlorn-looking pie in her hands.

"I know it's late," she said in a rush, "but can I come in?"

"Of course."

She walked in and stood near the counter, after having placed the pie tin on the counter.

"I brought this for you and Joey," she began, feeling rather uneasy and not sure whatshe hoped to accomplishnow that she had made the trek across the hall.

"Thanks," Chandler said, picking up the pie and placing it in the fridge.

"It got a little messy," she said.

Chandler shrugged. "Joey won't mind."

Monica smiled. That was certainly true.

Chandler couldn't help but to notice that a big portion of the pie was missing, at least from the last time he had seen it, but he chose not to say anything to his friend. At least she had brought it to him. Maybe that was a good sign.

"Can I get you something to drink?" he asked.

Monica hesitated. "It's late," she said. "I guess I should be going."

"It's not that late," Chandler pointed out, not ready for her to leave.

"Where's Joey?"

"In his room, preparing for an audition tomorrow."

Monica nodded.

A few awkward moments passed before Monica spoke.

"What you said tonight," she started, not really sure how much she wanted to reveal, "I, well, I want you to know it really meant a lot to me."

"I meant what I said," Chandler assured her.

Monica nodded and tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear.

"It's just that...I guess you noticed there wasn't much left of the pie."

"It crossed my mind when I saw it," he admitted.

"Since I broke up with Richard, I've been indulging way more than I should. That pie is a perfect example. I want to stop, and yet, I don't. It's crazy, I know, but you can relate, right?"

"With trying to give up smoking, yeah, I can."

"That's what I mean. It'll get easier, right? I won't always want to eat everything in sight, right? Please, Chandler. Tell me I won't."

He saw the stricken look on her face and the threat of tears in her crystal blue eyes and wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms and comfort her. But he knew he couldn't do that. He was her friend. Nothing more. Besides, she was still hurting from her breakup. He wouldn't do that to her. But he did want her to know that things would get better.

"The cravings will ease," he answered. "At least, they did for me. For the most part. And you have already been through this. You know what you need to do. Don't let Richard or anyone cause you to backslide, Mon. You've come too far and you've had your eating under control for a lot of years."

"Or maybe I've just had everyone, including myself, fooled all this time."

Chandler shook his head. "Nah, I don't believe that. You'll get through this. I promise you will."

Monica gazed at her friend who wore a very reassuring smile. "How can you promise me that?" she asked, half serious, half teasing. "You of the bad advice crowd."

"You're right," he said. "I broke my own promise not to give you advice, and now I'm promising you that you'll get through this. Run, Monica. Run away from me as fast as you can."

She knew he was only half-mocking and that he felt some truth in what he was saying, but the last thing she wanted to do was to run away from him.

"I think I'll take my chances," she told him.

"Really?" he had to ask.

"Yes," she said, realizing with a smile that she was enjoying their lighthearted, somewhat teasing conversation very much.

He smiled warmly, happy he could make her forget her troubles, if only for a few minutes. "Then, just know that I'll be here whenever you need me. Bad advice and all. Okay?"

"I hope you won't get tired of me. I may be around a lot."

That sounded fine with Chandler, but instead of voicing his pleasure at her anticipated visits, he changed his mind and decided to hold out his arms to offer her a friendly hug. That wouldn't upset anything, right? They were just two friends, sharing an enjoyable hug. She sighed contentedly in the safety of his strong arms as she tried to let go of some of the stress she had been feeling.

With the two of them lost in their own thoughts, neither one saw Joey when he opened his bedroom door. He wanted to get something to drink, but he stopped in his tracks when he saw Monica and Chandler in a very close embrace. He retreated, unnoticed, to his room and silently closed the door, determined to find out what, if anything, was going on with two of his best friends.

Because from where he stood, nothing good could come out of this. Even he knew Monica still loved Richard. First thing in the morning, he vowed, he would remind his best friend of that very fact.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The next morning, Chandler woke up feeling good about life in general until he stepped out of his room and saw the scowl on his roommate's face.

"What's wrong?" he immediately asked.

Joey held out the spoon he had been using to eat his cereal and pointed it accusingly at his friend. "I've been waiting for you to get up."

"So, I'm up," Chandler said, sitting on one of the stools. "What's goin' on?"

Joey stood on the other side of the counter. "You," he said. "And Monica."

Chandler stopped pouring cereal into a bowl he had found and looked at Joey.

"What about Monica and me?" he asked, although he questioned the wisdom of that as soon as the words left his mouth.

Joey continued waving the spoon in his friend's face. "I saw what you two were doing last night. Are you crazy?"

Joey's voice had risen an octave. Chandler tried to calm him down.

"What exactly did you see, Joe?"

"You and Monica hugging. Very tightly, I might add. And you were whispering, too."

Chandler tried to shrug off his friend's concern. "It was just a friendly hug. There's nothing going on with me and Monica. We were talking about everyday things."

Chandler knew he did not want to discuss Monica's situation with Joey, even though he was his best friend. It just wouldn't be right.

"There better not be anything going on," Joey said forcefully.

"Would you get that spoon out of my face," Chandler complained.

"Sorry," Joey said, placing the utensil in the sink.

"Look, Joey, I don't interfere with your private affairs. I really need you to leave this alone. Don't tell the others what you saw. Okay?"

He gave his friend a suspicious look. "Why can't I tell the others if nothing's going on?"

"Because this is between Monica and me. There's nothing going on so there's nothing to tell. What's so hard about that?"

Joey looked offended. "I dunno. You're the one who's comforting Monica in the middle of the night."

Chandler tried not to let his exasperation show. "It was hardly the middle of the night, and we shared one hug. It was no big deal. I gotta get ready for work. Just tell me you won't say anything. Please?"

"All right," Joey finally conceded. "I won't say anything. But you'd better be careful," he warned his friend. "Monica still loves Richard. Even I'm smart enough to know that."

Joey's words hit Chandler the wrong way. As he got ready for work, he told himself that he, too, knew Monica hadn't gotten over Richard. Not by a long shot. But that didn't mean she never would. Chandler had been her friend and would continue to be her friend. He did not want that to change. And their friendship had nothing to do with Monica's feelings for Richard.

Even though he was running late, when he stepped out into the hallway, Chandler couldn't head off to work without stopping at Monica and Rachel's to say "good morning." It just wouldn't have felt right. Besides, he wanted to know if Monica was feeling any better.

She answered his knock with a brief smile and then let him in. She offered him a cup of coffee, which he, unfortunately, had to decline.

"I'm already behind schedule, but I just wanted to see how you're doing."

"I'm okay. Thanks for checking on me."

She didn't look okay to Chandler. Dark circles under her eyes told of a sleepless night.

"You didn't get much sleep, did you?"

She shook her head. "Not really. I think I'm going to call in sick today and just take it easy. I need to sleep before I drop."

"Yes, you do."

"I need to tell you something, Chandler. What we talked about last night? That's between you and me. The others can't know what I shared with you. Not even my brother. Promise me. Okay?"

"I already knew that," he told her. "Unfortunately, Joey saw us hugging, and he confronted me about it this morning, but I told him it was none of his business and that he needed to leave it alone. I told him he especially couldn't tell any of the others what he saw. I know he didn't like it, but I think he'll honor my wishes."

"He has to," Monica said, feeling the panic begin to rise inside her. "If he says anything..."

"He won't," Chandler assured his friend. "He knows I was serious."

Monica shook her head. "I should have never gone to your place last night."

Chandler put down his briefcase on the kitchen table and drew a very fragile Monica close to him.

"Why? I'm glad you finally told someone, well, especially me, what's been going on. We all know you're hurting, Mon."

"Things are going to get even more complicated," she argued. "Joey's going to look at me differently, which is going to cause the others to have suspicions. The only reason I can talk to you right now is because Rachel already left for work."

"But we're not doing anything wrong."

"I am," Monica said. "I feel like I'm leading a double life. And now I've brought you into my web of deceit. I hate myself."

"Monica, don't say that," Chandler said, using the palms of his hands to caress her silky dark tresses, "jokingly or otherwise. I'm your friend, and what's going on with you is your business. No one else's."

Monica looked at him with wonder. "You're being a great friend to me, Chandler Bing, at a time when I don't feel I deserve to have one. How can I ever repay you?"

"You can repay me by taking care of yourself."

"I'm gonna try," Monica said, telling herself she needed to start making an effort to get her life back on track. "I really am."

"That's what I want to hear. Good for you."

"Will you come by when you get home from work?"

"Sure," he said, and then gave her a mischievous grin. "But," he added, pointing and waving his index fingers in her direction, "I may have a surprise or two for you before then."

Chandler felt immense satisfaction when he saw Monica's face brighten at the prospect of having something nice happen to her. He hated leaving her, but it helped that he hadalready started to plan just the right surprises that he hoped would make her day.


End file.
